The Gluten Free Bar & Bites Review

Disclaimer: I received samples of these products for review because I reached out and told them how awesome I think their bars are. All opinions are my own.

Hello Tuesday!

I am working a half day today because I spent the morning speaking at a substance abuse training for a civilian branch of the U.S. Army in Maryland. Since traffic is always unpredictable around the beltway, I gave myself plenty of time and ended up arriving an hour and 15 minutes before I was supposed to be there. Whoops. It went really well and I ended up staying an extra half an hour to talk to some people who had questions or comments or personal experiences to relay to me. I always find speaking at events like these particularly rewarding given where I have been and where I am now. For anyone not familiar with how I got to where I am today, this post sums it all up.

I made my way home, grabbed lunch with Neil, took him to the airport, and am now enjoying my daily espresso while making almond butter and writing this post. Whew.

Today’s post is a review of The Gluten Free Bar (GFB) and their new addition of GFB Bites. As you know, I have a thing for bars and when I saw these and hadn’t tried them, I bought all the flavors they had.

These bars/bites are gluten free, vegan, soy free, and non-GMO. They also taste great. They were developed by two brothers who are gluten intolerant and were looking for a good tasting, high protein, gluten free bar. The GFB was born.

The bars were my first introduction to this brand, and my favorite thing about them was their consistency. They were dense with a slight amount of crunch and reminded me of a Powerbar. I had already had most of these flavors from buying them in the store, but a new one for me was the oatmeal raisin. Here are the flavors I was sent to sample:

Dark Chocolate Coconut

Coconut Cashew Crunch

Cranberry Toasted Almond

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter

Oatmeal Raisin

Normally my go-to flavors are anything involving peanut butter or chocolate, but my favorite flavor of GFB is cranberry toasted almond. It has almond extract in it which I LOVE and tastes like a healthier version of a cherry pop tart. I wish I liked coconut, but unfortunately it reminds me of tanning oil. That being said, I did actually enjoy the coconut cashew crunch bar.

I didn’t detect too much of a difference between the chocolate peanut butter and peanut butter; they weren’t the best peanut butter bars that I have had, but definitely not the worst. The base of many of these bars is dates, so there will always be a slight fruity undertone, but nothing that detracts from the overall quality of the bar. I have the same problem with Larabars. Dates and peanut butter are always a little iffy for me. (NOT true about dates and almond butter. Keep me away).

The oatmeal raisin bar was a nice change from overloading on chocolate as I tend to do. There was a cinnamon aftertaste that reminded me of a cinnamon roll, so anyone who likes any combination of those flavors will enjoy these!

The GFB Bites were new to me as I haven’t seen them in the stores near me. They are the perfect size for snacking and are surprisingly filling. The Bites flavors are:

Coconut Cashew Crunch

Dark Chocolate Coconut

Chocolate Cherry Almond

Like I said previously, I am not the biggest fan of coconut. I finished off the entire bag of coconut cashew crunch because it used toasted coconut and tasted like a Samoa. Those were fantastic.

The dark chocolate coconut was a hit among my coconut loving friends and I have to agree that they tasted more like truffles than healthy snack bites. If you like chocolate and coconut, definitely give these a try!

I was disappointed with the chocolate cherry almond flavor because there was something about the flavors that didn’t mix well for me. I wish they had taken the cranberry toasted almond and made a bite size version because those would have been gone in no time. It’s taking me longer to finish those off, but it will be done.

Overall, I am really happy with these snacks. I really like the products and the people behind the company. It is not always easy to find good tasting snacks that meet so many dietary restrictions. Check them out here to read more about The Gluten Free Bar and see where you can pick some up near you!

Question of the day: Have you had The Gluten Free Bar before? What is your favorite flavor?